Continuing its buyout spree, Switzerland's Novartis has bid $569 million to acquire NeuTec Pharma, a British drug developer with several late-stage candidates in the pipeline. NeuTec's board has backed the takeover, which is more than twice what its stock was trading for two days ago. Mycograb has been submitted to European regulators as a therapy for invasive candidiasis and Aurograb is in Phase III trials as a therapy for MRSA. Remarkably, NeuTec does not have collaborators signed on already, making the deal that much sweeter for Novartis.
Novartis has been on the acquisition trail for two years and just yesterday inked a $507 million licensing deal with Human Genome Sciences. This latest news only underscores the sellers market that has developed in biotechnology.
- here's the report on Novartis from CNN